JTC

[Fred W. Schneider III]

There was a difference been mimeograph and spirit duplicators (hectograph).
Mimeograph required a stencil with holes cut into an impermeable layer using
a typewriter or some other tool, the holes being their to allow ink to flow
through the stencil to the paper.  The hectograph or spirit duplicators used
a master onto which an ink like material was transferred ... the result was
usually purple.  The master could then be offset from the master to gelatin
to the printed page, or a liquid spirit was used to make the ink soluble.
The hectograph system could use other colors.  Harold Cox used to draw maps
for the MPRA journal using several colors ... purple, red, green.
Mimeograph stencils could be good for up to 1,000 impressions unless you
worked for the state of Pennsylvania which bought on competitive bid high
school practice grade stencils good for 30 impressions and expected you to
print 1,000 clean looking news releases!  The mimeograph machines disappeared
when dry copy processes became cheap enough for every office.  The last time
I used hectograph was when I taught school in the late 1960s.  Now that we've
saved someone the trouble of asking, lets go on to Johnstown again.

My own favorite example of friendly dates to April 1958.  John Bowman, Bill
Allen, and I had journeyed west ... we wanted to ride the franchise car on
Oakhurst.  We rode all night on the Pennsy and arrived in Johnstown about 5
AM.  We immediately called the carbarn and were told that this was Good
Friday and there was no reason to run the franchise car on a holiday.  Foiled
again.  Well we started hiking ... nothing better to do ... reaching the
carbarn by the time the sun was stronger.  On a whim I asked the dispatcher
what the chance might be of chartering a car on such short notice.  I'll
never forget his words if I lived to be a thousand: "Sure. Seven dollars an
hour, minimum of three hours.  Do you want it or don't you?"  We all checked
our wallets and each pulled out $7 and pushed them through the window.  His
next words were, "Go out and take pictures in the yard.  I'll call a
motorman."  Ten minutes later the dispatcher came out into the yard to
explain that he found a motorman that lived a block away and that he would
appear as soon as he finishes his breakfast.  We had a lot of fun that
morning banging around down on an ex Bangor Maine safety car (#311 was the
only survivor from that group).

Small fantrips are a lot of fun.  Sometime I'll have to narrate the
Pittsburgh trip I ran with eight people.

brathke at juno.com wrote:

> Also: JTC was very friendly to trolleyfans, and if you checked in at the
> Moxham office, they'd give you verbal permission to wander all through
> the barns.  One day in 1959 they even pulled car 350 out of the barn so I
> could photograph it, and I didn't even ask.
>
> I also remember the low key, low budget,  public schedule cards.  They
> weren't actually "cards" - they were 8-1/2X11" mimeographed sheets of
> paper.  I donated a pile of these schedule sheets to PTM when I moved to
> Chicago in 1983.
>
> Okay, who will be the first to ask what "mimeographed" is (was)?
>
> I'll take you back to an even older form of printing used by JTC.  In
> 1957, I got a route map from JTC.  It was an
> 8-1/2X11" sheet of paper printed in purple ink  on a spirit duplicator.
> The routes were hand drawn.  The map shows the single track bridge on the
> Franklin line, with a note that it will be double tracked at the end of
> 1957.
>
> I'll scan this map and will e-mail a copy to anyone who's interested.
> Let me know.
>
> Surely, you all still have a spirit duplicator in the basement.
>
> Bob 10/3
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Tue, 03 Oct 2000 20:53:03 -0400 "Fred W. Schneider III"
> <fschnei at supernet.com> writes:
> > I'd love to see those numbers plotted against two other things:
> >
> >      (a) motor vehicle registrations in Cambria County
> >
> >      (b) tons of steel produced by Bethlehem Steel and U. S. Steel
> > in Cambria
> > County.
> >
> > Much of the Bethlehem's steel output in Johnstown went into rail
> > cars.  I think
> > US Steel made switch frogs there. My suspicion is that the demand
> > for this
> > product dropped very rapidly at the end of World War II.
> >
> > If there was any reason to keep the cars running, it was probably
> > that they
> > were cheaper than a bus as long as no infrastructure repairs were
> > needed.  The
> > company had 17 PCCs built after the war at a time when that volume
> > of cars was
> > needed simply for the Morrellville - Roxbury route.  By the early
> > 1950s those
> > cars were sufficient for Morrellville, Roxbury, Franklin,
> > Coopersdale and
> > Ferndale ... the older cars were only running on Oakhurst,
> > Benscreek, and
> > Southmont.  And by the late 1950s, they probably could have gotten
> > by with 10
> > cars on weekdays and 2 on Sundays.  The PCCs were only 13 years old
> > upon
> > abandonment ... young enough to run on inertia.  The track had been
> > rebuilt at
> > the end of the war.  Had the city not chosen to implement a one-way
> > street
> > program, they probably could have squeezed a few more years out of
> > the physical
> > plant without significant repairs.
> >
> > The fact that they chose used trolley buses to replace the cars
> > indicates, to
> > me, that there was a lot of years that could still be wrung out of
> > the power
> > distribution system.  My impression of Reitz is that he could stand
> > on a nickel
> > with his shoes on and tell if the buffalo was up or down.  They
> > didn't even
> > waste letterheads to respond to requests for chartered cars ... a
> > postcard with
> > the word YES on it was adequate.
> >
> > Remember that Johnstown had a severe flood about 1978 and that the
> > library was
> > in the flood plain.  I understand, for example, that all the census
> > reports
> > were lost which leads me to believe that the research section was
> > under water.
> >
> > John Swindler wrote:
> >
> > > >Derrick asked some time ago:
> > > >
> > > >Well, how about...
> > > >
> > > >I've not done the supporting research, yet. I went to the Glosser
> > Library
> > > >in Johnstown about 5 years ago with the intention of finding the
> > right
> > > >areas to poke around, assuming there were any "right areas"
> > there, and got
> > > >side-tracked once inside the library. Haven't been back in, and
> > one of
> > > >these days I really should... anyhow...
> > > >
> > > >-they seemed to have a case of indecision. they weren't really
> > ready to
> > > >abandon the rail system (witness the oakhurst line being useable
> > for many
> > > >years after it was officially in service, or so i understand it,
> > and the
> > > >relaying of rail in the new Maple Avenue bridge on the Franklin
> > line) yet
> > > >they used the 1959 steel strike to axe Coopersdale... maybe they
> > knew it
> > > >was coming by 1959, and weren't sure earlier, but other research
> > points at
> > > >an economic downturn beginning as early as 1957; perhaps it was
> > more
> > > >protracted or its effect on the steel industry more profound than
> > was
> > > >forseen at the time.
> > > >
> > > >but when they finally decided it was the end for the rail cars,
> > electric
> > > >trolleybus service soldiered on for 7 more years, so they didn't
> > get to
> > > >cast off the somewhat expensive and certainly taxable
> > infrastructure yet
> > > >anyhow.
> > > >
> > > >this has always been somewhat mind-boggling, but i expect when i
> > have time
> > > >to go read i will find and know the answer
> > > >
> > >
> > > In addition to newspapers, JTC was regulated by PUC.  Therefore,
> > there will
> > > be petitions to convert to trackless, then to bus.  It might be
> > interesting
> > > to see what testimony was provided by Glenn Reitz during PUC
> > hearings.
> > > Available on microfilm in basement of North Office Building in
> > Harrisburg.
> > >
> > > However, would suspect local employment situation was significant
> > > cause/effect.  You mentioned economic downturn in 1957.  Vague
> > recollection
> > > of a Cambria County Planning study from mid-1970s showing that
> > almost half
> > > of remaining riders disappeared around 1967.   The following is
> > from 1972:
> > >
> > > 1945    ---   23,909,447 passengers
> > >
> > > 1950    ---   14,908,685
> > >
> > > 1955    ---    8,264,789
> > >
> > > 1960    ---    5,830,202
> > >
> > > 1965    ---    4,083,804
> > >
> > > 1970    ---    2,154,723
> > >
> > > That's a 91 percent decline!  Just for record, something more
> > recent.
> > >
> > > 1998    ---    1,259,105  of which 361,855 are senior citizens
> > riding for
> > > free with subsidy from lottery fund and general fund (general fund
> > is your
> > > 6% state sales tax and state income tax)
> > >
> > > On May 1, 1947, JTC's equipment included 85 buses and 70
> > streetcars
> > >
> > > In Dec. 1965 JTC fleet included 40 buses, 25 trackless, 16 school
> > buses and
> > > 6 coaches for charters.
> > >
> > > As of August 1971, JTC fleet included 32 transit buses, 49 school
> > buses and
> > > 4 coaches for charters.
> > >
> > >
> >
> _________________________________________________________________________
> > > Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at
> > http://www.hotmail.com.
> > >
> > > Share information about yourself, create your own public profile
> > at
> > > http://profiles.msn.com.
> >
>
> -----------------------
> Ask questions.
> -----------------------
>
> ________________________________________________________________
> YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET!
> Juno now offers FREE Internet Access!
> Try it today - there's no risk!  For your FREE software, visit:
> http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.